LATEST NEWS:
The intermediate dealer (Mike at F&S) called me last night.
I was hoping that his previous offer to swap out my CDP for a modded one would cost me about $1000 ($650 for the agreed-upon mod and a few hundred for the value of a warranty?). Such heroism wasn't expected, of course...just hoped for.
Unfortunately he said that "WE can offer you a new one for $2000 and your
unit." (I sensed that the collective "WE" was used following some discussion with the distributor, and that I was being given a corporate-approved offer. Just my conjecture, though.) Mike said that Alan (the distributor) would NOT mod my unit under any circumstances (this was a change from his previous offer to mod it for DOUBLE the normal retail price: $1600 vs the agreed-upon $650). Mike had said previously that having my unit as a permanent demo was of value to his dealership, but he now says that HE could not get it modded by EC either, so its value is lower to EVERYONE!
The RETAIL IN EUROPE and WHOLESALE IN US prices of these CDPs are nearly equal ($3200). So if I give him another $2000 he's essentially buying my "untouchable" for $1200 his cost. I noted this fact, and suggested that I certainly could hope to resell my 1.5 yr old EMC-1 MkII for more than $1200, thus reducing my "buy-up mod cost". Indeed even Alan had suggested that I simply sell mine and buy a new one (yes, he regretted saying that, and I hate to uncover this little sore point, because its importance is NOT to point blame nor focus on a profiteering motive but to only note that procrastination by passing the unit on is initially attractive, but upon rethinking, not the wisest option. The collective problem is much larger than that, as we've all come to note).
Mike and I discussed that the mod did indeed originate in the US, at TALON! Wow! So maybe the easiest course is just to ask them about the mod, its parts, instructions, service...whatever they could offer? So I emailed a plea to Talon last night for some advice/service/mod. Their quick and compassionate reply included: "We have made an agreement with Electrocompaniet that we would not perform any mods. The technology behind the mod was purchased by EC and is their property. I really hate to see this type of situation." DARN!
So EC really locked this up. They cut off an independent service person (Heiz Preiss in FL...see above) in '99, and restricted the simple analog modding technology of their CDP. I was really hoping I could just send Talon the board(s) to mod.
I'm getting really frustrated with my lack of options....
Forgot to mention that I phoned Mike (the kind EC dealer) back and asked him if the only option left to me was to sell my unit myself, and wondered if it was tenable to only expect about $1000 loss after buying a NEW one at a discount as a favor from him or another EC dealer. It seems that I would have to sell my unit for almost $3000 in order to have it still cost me only $1000 to get this $650 mod.
I just can't see selling my unmodded MkII for $3k when the new wholesale is just a couple of hundred above that. And what do I say if someone asks how they would get service/parts support in the future? I'd be just passing the buck to someone else, only to potentially resurface with another fiasco, as many of you have pointed out. Sigh....
It just occurred to me that if the retail in the EU is $3200 equivalent, then the wholesale is probably about 60% of that, or just under $2k. Add shipping, import duty and brokerage fees probably totals $2400, explaining the US dealer wholesale of $3200, and the subsequent retail of $5500. I am NOT going to comment on the fairness of the margins, nor the discrepancies among pricing structures and policies, but for elucidation. Distributor and dealer networks for luxury items ARE important...but it IS getting to be a more global market, as some of you have pointed out.
It'll be interesting to see where longterm evolution leaves us, but in the meantime there're fires to put out.
I laughingly suggested to Mike that perhaps my best option is to go to Europe on vacation next year (after my wife retires from teaching: 35 yrs in 5th grade...can you believe it?) and buy another EMC-1 in the UK or wherever, saving the 17% VAT, paying the 10%duty, and drag back a 50lb box for $3k, and then sell mine for a quite fair $2k and then be done with it, getting my $650 mod for $1000 and a ton of effort. We both joked that this would work, but only further extend the problem if I ever wanted service.
So I'm still REALLY stuck here:
My wife won't let me solve the problem by buying a discounted separate DAC/modded analogue stand-alone for $1500 because of aesthetics (AND it's still too expensive); EC won't mod my player AT ALL;
the intermediate dealer won't pay much more (if any) than $1200 for it (his net), costing me $2000; and if I want to solve my problem closer to $1000 I have to quietly submerge my unit back into the open market and look for a sympathetic dealer to sell me a new unit near cost.... C'mon!
None of these circuitous bandaids are simple, efficient, cost-effective, reparatory, farsighted nor resulting in movement toward solving the larger problem of EC and product support.
I would really like EC to step in here and offer to trade out my board(s) for modded one(s), mod my unit, trade it for a new modded one for $1000 (if they're selling wholesaling new ones for $2000 why won't they swap mine for $1000 to put this fire out?), or some other easy way to satisfy my needs. (Although I'm not an active benchtech, nor have wave-soldering tools, I'm sure that I could easily perform entire board replacement, thus preventing having to send a 50 pounder back and forth to Philly or across the pond if they want to just send me spare boards to swap out).
Mike is waiting for me to offer an amount intermediate of my $1000 offer and his $2000 buy-up offer to get this $650 mod.... This is just getting way too frustrating. I'm not even listening to music anymore. I'm now feeling like I'm being punished even more. I realize that it's simply old relapsed-Catholic-upbringing stuff fortunately, and that I'm just the unlucky victim of a brutally-enforced arcane corporate policy, but I sense that my hurt is somewhat turning toward anger, as I don't sense that there'll be a fair outcome here, either on the corporate level nor on an intermediate's anxiously sought offer generous enough to not seem punitive. I wasted almost an entire day of my time driving in a severe storm, and am still willing to pay 50% more than an agreed-upon price to buy a service from this company, well after they screwed up, and no-one's listening?!
Well, I DID rewrite and forward my plea to EC, and I guess they won't become aware of all this until tomorrow (Monday AM). At that time I'll be undergoing my 3rd spinal epidural steroid injection for this friggin herniated disc, so I'll be out of it for a couple of days. Even writing cogently with all this Tramadol and Neurontin I'm having to take is much effort.
I'll try to keep abreast of all your input and support in the meantime.
Thanks again, everyone. Gratefully, Ern
The intermediate dealer (Mike at F&S) called me last night.
I was hoping that his previous offer to swap out my CDP for a modded one would cost me about $1000 ($650 for the agreed-upon mod and a few hundred for the value of a warranty?). Such heroism wasn't expected, of course...just hoped for.
Unfortunately he said that "WE can offer you a new one for $2000 and your
unit." (I sensed that the collective "WE" was used following some discussion with the distributor, and that I was being given a corporate-approved offer. Just my conjecture, though.) Mike said that Alan (the distributor) would NOT mod my unit under any circumstances (this was a change from his previous offer to mod it for DOUBLE the normal retail price: $1600 vs the agreed-upon $650). Mike had said previously that having my unit as a permanent demo was of value to his dealership, but he now says that HE could not get it modded by EC either, so its value is lower to EVERYONE!
The RETAIL IN EUROPE and WHOLESALE IN US prices of these CDPs are nearly equal ($3200). So if I give him another $2000 he's essentially buying my "untouchable" for $1200 his cost. I noted this fact, and suggested that I certainly could hope to resell my 1.5 yr old EMC-1 MkII for more than $1200, thus reducing my "buy-up mod cost". Indeed even Alan had suggested that I simply sell mine and buy a new one (yes, he regretted saying that, and I hate to uncover this little sore point, because its importance is NOT to point blame nor focus on a profiteering motive but to only note that procrastination by passing the unit on is initially attractive, but upon rethinking, not the wisest option. The collective problem is much larger than that, as we've all come to note).
Mike and I discussed that the mod did indeed originate in the US, at TALON! Wow! So maybe the easiest course is just to ask them about the mod, its parts, instructions, service...whatever they could offer? So I emailed a plea to Talon last night for some advice/service/mod. Their quick and compassionate reply included: "We have made an agreement with Electrocompaniet that we would not perform any mods. The technology behind the mod was purchased by EC and is their property. I really hate to see this type of situation." DARN!
So EC really locked this up. They cut off an independent service person (Heiz Preiss in FL...see above) in '99, and restricted the simple analog modding technology of their CDP. I was really hoping I could just send Talon the board(s) to mod.
I'm getting really frustrated with my lack of options....
Forgot to mention that I phoned Mike (the kind EC dealer) back and asked him if the only option left to me was to sell my unit myself, and wondered if it was tenable to only expect about $1000 loss after buying a NEW one at a discount as a favor from him or another EC dealer. It seems that I would have to sell my unit for almost $3000 in order to have it still cost me only $1000 to get this $650 mod.
I just can't see selling my unmodded MkII for $3k when the new wholesale is just a couple of hundred above that. And what do I say if someone asks how they would get service/parts support in the future? I'd be just passing the buck to someone else, only to potentially resurface with another fiasco, as many of you have pointed out. Sigh....
It just occurred to me that if the retail in the EU is $3200 equivalent, then the wholesale is probably about 60% of that, or just under $2k. Add shipping, import duty and brokerage fees probably totals $2400, explaining the US dealer wholesale of $3200, and the subsequent retail of $5500. I am NOT going to comment on the fairness of the margins, nor the discrepancies among pricing structures and policies, but for elucidation. Distributor and dealer networks for luxury items ARE important...but it IS getting to be a more global market, as some of you have pointed out.
It'll be interesting to see where longterm evolution leaves us, but in the meantime there're fires to put out.
I laughingly suggested to Mike that perhaps my best option is to go to Europe on vacation next year (after my wife retires from teaching: 35 yrs in 5th grade...can you believe it?) and buy another EMC-1 in the UK or wherever, saving the 17% VAT, paying the 10%duty, and drag back a 50lb box for $3k, and then sell mine for a quite fair $2k and then be done with it, getting my $650 mod for $1000 and a ton of effort. We both joked that this would work, but only further extend the problem if I ever wanted service.
So I'm still REALLY stuck here:
My wife won't let me solve the problem by buying a discounted separate DAC/modded analogue stand-alone for $1500 because of aesthetics (AND it's still too expensive); EC won't mod my player AT ALL;
the intermediate dealer won't pay much more (if any) than $1200 for it (his net), costing me $2000; and if I want to solve my problem closer to $1000 I have to quietly submerge my unit back into the open market and look for a sympathetic dealer to sell me a new unit near cost.... C'mon!
None of these circuitous bandaids are simple, efficient, cost-effective, reparatory, farsighted nor resulting in movement toward solving the larger problem of EC and product support.
I would really like EC to step in here and offer to trade out my board(s) for modded one(s), mod my unit, trade it for a new modded one for $1000 (if they're selling wholesaling new ones for $2000 why won't they swap mine for $1000 to put this fire out?), or some other easy way to satisfy my needs. (Although I'm not an active benchtech, nor have wave-soldering tools, I'm sure that I could easily perform entire board replacement, thus preventing having to send a 50 pounder back and forth to Philly or across the pond if they want to just send me spare boards to swap out).
Mike is waiting for me to offer an amount intermediate of my $1000 offer and his $2000 buy-up offer to get this $650 mod.... This is just getting way too frustrating. I'm not even listening to music anymore. I'm now feeling like I'm being punished even more. I realize that it's simply old relapsed-Catholic-upbringing stuff fortunately, and that I'm just the unlucky victim of a brutally-enforced arcane corporate policy, but I sense that my hurt is somewhat turning toward anger, as I don't sense that there'll be a fair outcome here, either on the corporate level nor on an intermediate's anxiously sought offer generous enough to not seem punitive. I wasted almost an entire day of my time driving in a severe storm, and am still willing to pay 50% more than an agreed-upon price to buy a service from this company, well after they screwed up, and no-one's listening?!
Well, I DID rewrite and forward my plea to EC, and I guess they won't become aware of all this until tomorrow (Monday AM). At that time I'll be undergoing my 3rd spinal epidural steroid injection for this friggin herniated disc, so I'll be out of it for a couple of days. Even writing cogently with all this Tramadol and Neurontin I'm having to take is much effort.
I'll try to keep abreast of all your input and support in the meantime.
Thanks again, everyone. Gratefully, Ern